When college basketball teams take to the road they normally don’t shoot as well as they do when they’re in the friendly confines of their own arenas. But UNO has defied that logic the last couple of weeks.

The Privateers have won three straight games – all on the road – and have exceeded their season shooting percentage while doing so. UNO made 49 percent of its shots from the field in road games at Houston Baptist, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Southeastern Louisiana University. The Privateers average 43 percent for the season.

The best performance came last Thursday in the Privateers’ 90-85 victory against Southeastern Louisiana. UNO was 30 of 55 from the field (55 percent) and 14 of 24 in the second half (58 percent).

But UNO coach Mark Slessinger said after watching the film, he never really thought his team was in sync on offense against the Lions.

“I didn’t think we were very good the whole night,’’ Slessinger said. “I never felt like we got rolling the whole night. We had some good runs where we were able to get some baskets and stretch the lead. I didn’t feel like we played with a huge amount energy. And I didn’t feel like we played really sharp offensively.

“I came away from it and thought, ‘Well, we can get a lot better.’ I’m very encouraged that we didn’t play super good and still won.’’

The face of this offensive upswing and three-game winning streak has been freshman guard Christavious Gill, who is averaging 19.3 points per game during the three games. He had a career-high 21 points in the victory against Southeastern and was 4 of 7 from 3-point range.

But Slessinger thinks teams may start game-planning more for Gill, who has scored in double figures in six of his last seven games. He said Gill has benefitted from opponents defensing forward Cory Dixon so much. Dixon leads the Privateers, averaging 14.2 points per game.

“He’s (Gill) had a lot of good looks because teams have doubled down on Dixon so hard,’’ Slessinger said. “Now, maybe that’ll open it up for Dixon a little more. Maybe it’ll even up.’’

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: The Privateers return to the road Thursday and Saturday, playing at Oral Roberts on Thursday and at Central Arkansas on Saturday.

After winning four of its first five conference games, Oral Roberts (10-12, 4-5) has lost four straight.

And Central Arkansas is in a tough slide right now. The Bears (5-15, 2-7) have lost six of their last seven games.

The Eagles have one of the top players in the league, guard-forward Shawn Glover, a 6-foot-7 senior. Glover is averaging 21.5 points per game and shoots 50 percent from the field.

Central Arkansas also has a versatile wing player in LaQuentin Miles, a 6-5 senior. Miles is averaging 22.1 points per game.

“Glover can score in a lot of different ways,’’ Slessinger said. “Really athletic and quick. Him and Miles are two of the better wings in our league.’’

COMING OFF A BYE: When you’re winning, you don’t get all that excited about a bye in the schedule. That’s the case with Slessinger.

UNO didn’t play Saturday and will have had a week off before tipping against Oral Roberts on Thursday.

“It was kind of like I didn’t really want to take a break,’’ Slessinger said. “The good thing is our team has been good at preparation this season. It gave them an extra day in the scout process. So our coaches were able to get in more of the scout package. If we get a positive out of it, that’s what we’ll see.’’

He said he’s also eager to see how his team performs on their fourth and fifth straight road games before returning home Feb. 13 against Nicholls State.

“Oral Roberts is a good team and that’s a hard place to play up there,’’ Slessinger said. “They draw well. It’s a different setup from a lighting end. It’s an interesting place to play.

“I’m eager to see how we do this week. Now we’ve got to fly and go out to different environments. I want to see how we react to that. And I’m curious to see how we react off the bye.’’